You might have seen it already, but I sent fulfillment surveys out the other day! Completing surveys is necessary to get your campaign rewards. If you have any questions or need assistance, please let me know. Collecting this info, including what name you'd like listed in the acknowledgements section (not being in there is always an option if you'd prefer) is one of the last steps needed to get your books to you. A lot of you have already filled out your surveys (thank you!) and I'm hoping to lock surveys and charge for shipping in a couple weeks. You will receive an email before surveys lock in case you need to change any of your responses.
One of those other final steps is making sure the proof copies for both the standard and large print paperback are formatted correctly. Those are on their way to me as we speak! Assuming the proofs look good, it'll be quick work to add the acknowledgements section in once I have that info.
My goal is to send out ebooks and bulk order paperbacks by the end of this month. Once I have those paperbacks in hand, getting them shipped out to y'all will be my top priority.
And now for some other news.
As you might remember, this campaign was part of 2025's Book Bazaar. I'm incredibly pleased to announce that I will be participating in 2026's Book Bazaar as well! We'll have a mix of returning authors from last year and new people. The teaser page for my new book will be up soon. Plus I'll be sending out an email about this project that also includes details about my publishing plans for the near-ish future.
This year's Bazaar runs from the end of October until midway through November. Even if something happens to the anticipated timeline, Honeycomb Heart fulfillment will be complete before this new project's campaign runs. The novel I'll be crowdfunding will also be closer to completion at the time of funding than Honeycomb Heart was, so there should be less, uh, "wiggle room" in the expected vs actual fulfillment timeline for that project. This is my goal going forward with all my future campaigns.
As always, thanks for your patience and I hope you're doing well! —Madeleine
First big announcement — Honeycomb Heart's edits are DONE!
This weekend I'll be setting up the print files so I can order proof copies. This will help me ensure that the paperbacks print correctly before I order what I need for fulfillment.
I just submitted the surveys for Backerkit to review. Once they've given me the okay, a few of you will receive "smoke test" surveys — again, this is to make sure everything is functioning as intended before I send out the survey to everyone. Along with giving me the information I need to fulfill your rewards, the survey is also where you'll tell me if you want your name in the acknowledgements, and if so, what you'd like put there.
Once I have that info and the proofs look good, I just need to add in the acknowledgements section and then can order the final batch to send out! Ebooks will be distributed as soon as we reach this point.
I have made one small change to the mini print pack. My wrists keep crapping out on me (I work with my hands for a living, it's unfortunately not the first time this has happened). Instead of having five options to pick from for a three-pack or complete set of prints, print packs will automatically include all four of the completed designs. You'll get all four for the price of three. I've been having to really pace myself with crafting to avoid injury and did not want this to be a reason for more delays in everyone getting their books. There's some more background details/other stitching I intend to add but here's a further along picture of that fourth polaroid.
They're just little guys! Embroidered bees exploring a blooming cherry blossom tree
I hope this is okay with everyone. If I end up making more art like this in the future, it'll be released along with Octopus Garden and I'll see what I can do to send what would've been that fifth print option to anyone who bought the original print pack.
Sorry, what's Octopus Garden? I forget if I've mentioned it before... but it's the name of the eventual sequel I have planned for Honeycomb Heart! HH still stands on its own as a complete story, but if you want to see the continuation of Vivian and Frieda's adventures, there will be more! Eventually. Definitely not until next year at the earliest. I have some future publishing plans to announce in, well, the near future.
I'm very pleased with the state Honeycomb Heart is in. At this point I'm just doing line edits—going through each chapter to correct any grammatical issues, improve flow, etc. I'd like this to be a book you enjoy as an entire story, but also page by page. My other current areas of focus are getting artwork and surveys done so I can get everyone's name for the acknowledgements and info for sending you your rewards! Expect another update within the next couple weeks with more progress on all these fronts.
I wrapped up my current draft of Honeycomb Heart earlier this week. I've got a couple beta readers looking it over and will be giving it a read-through myself starting tomorrow. With the exception of a few chapters that needed reworked or added scenes, this draft was a lot of smaller edits, which is a good sign that we're getting close to the finish line.
In the meantime, I've gotten out my embroidery floss again. Please enjoy an in-progress bee butt.
The beginnings of a bumblebee being embroidered on a felt background
I'm currently about 2/3 of the way through this draft (15 of 24 chapters have been revised). I'm getting feedback from my beta readers as I finish chapters, but so far the book feels to me like it's in a pretty clean state. Aiming to finish this draft within the next two weeks!
